“Job shadows have very much so influenced my life powerfully. I have gotten an insight into many various careers in the medical field. A year ago, I had no idea there was a difference between and MRI tech, an ultrasound tech, and a radiologist, but as I job shadowed all those, I realized how different they all were. Before doing job shadows I didn’t realize there were so many choices I get to pick from to get a career. I used to know only of nurses and doctors, and job shadows helped me explore more, and also learn the different career choices and the responsibilities of each one of them.”by Liliya F.

Employer Testimonials

“It has been such a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to mentor these young ladies from Barbara Roberts. I have been so impressed, as I have gotten to know the girls, at their determination to succeed against difficult odds. I sincerely hope that whatever contribution that we are able to make will help them achieve the goals that they have set for their futures.”by Bonnie Beam, BJB Design

Presented by; The Inspire Foundation

Career Connections

May 20, 2015

Salem Convention Center

8:00am – 12:00pm

Career Connections is a lively and educational event to benefit our youth, who are the future workforce! It is an opportunity for more than 900 Salem-Keizer high school students to engage with future employers and improve their interviewing skills.

Career Connections May 21st, 2014 Recap

We provided over 1,000 high school students with mock interviews this year. These are record breaking numbers with students were from West, North, South, McKay, McNary, Sprague, Roberts, Early College, Cascade, Silverton, and Blanchet high schools.

Over 200 community volunteers conducted interviews and 28 businesses or organizations participated in the Resource Fair.

Every hour students could do work site tours that gave them a behind the scenes look at the Grand Hotel, Bentley’s Grill and The Salem Convention Center.

We have heard of about a dozen students who gained employment through Career Connections this year.

Here are a few testimonials:

From a high school student;

First, I would like to thank the Salem Chamber for hosting the Career Connection program, it gives students like us many new experiences that we would need later in life. Also, thank you for personally attending the program and giving me much valued feed backs from the interview. I am very interested in the Chamber and the programs it host, and I hope to be attending more in the near future. I hope to meet you again maybe in one of those programs. Once again thanks for the interview.

William

From a Mock Interviewer;

Wow!! What a terrific resource for students! The students were engaged, interesting, and exciting to speak with. Fantastic event, which we look forward to attending again next year. Thank you for considering us!

Get Involved

Be a mock interviewer: We need more than 300 volunteer mock interviewers to help students improve their interviewing skills and review their resume to get them prepared for the real world experience of college and job interviews. All interview questions and student evaluation forms will be provided to you.

Businesses and organizations interested in sharing information with students are invited to register for the resource fair to provide information about volunteering, student internships, current or future employment, training programs, and educational opportunities. This is a great way for you to promote and inform students about the possibilities within your organization.

Career Connections is an annual partnership event between the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce & the Salem-Keizer Public Schools. This district-wide event provides high school students a forum to hone their job interviewing skills that they have been learning and practicing in the classroom with employers from the local business community.

Participation in this highly anticipated event satisfies one of a student’s career related learning requirements for graduation.

2-3 mock interviews with feedback from a pool of 300+ local business people and potential employers